Gathering Storm (22 page)

There were built in bookshelves surrounding the TV filled to capacity with books, vases of all shapes and colors. Looking to her right, Siobhan saw two French doors that the clerk walked over to
grandly opening both
revealing a huge kings size bed. Apologizing yet again, the clerk gave Siobhan the room card quietly clos
ing
the door as she left.

Siobhan sat across from Jason on the leather couch leaning over to lightly kiss the bandage that peeked out from under his tousled hair. Jason smiled sheepishly before sinking down into the soft cushioned leather seat. Closing his eyes, he pulled Siobhan closer to him. They sat in silence waiting for Sarah and Shawn to arrive.

Sitting up abruptly, Jason winced, as they heard the click of Sarah running the card through the lock before she walked in carrying Siobhan’s clothes. The ones she had left lying around the room, Siobhan quickly blushed wishing she had in fact picked up the items now. Shawn followed silently behind Sarah pulling Siobhan’s suitcases behind him.

“Well, I must say I’m a little upset that Shawn has seen your underwear, but hasn’t even attempted to peek at mine” Sarah huffed as she tossed Siobhan’s clothes onto the desk behind the couch.

“Holy mother of god, BECKY, have you seen the size of that bed?” Sarah screeched “That could fit all of us!”

A bubble of laughter escaped Siobhan’s lips as she turned to see Jason shaking as the laughter began to slide out of his lips.

“I call dibs on the outside that’s near the bathroom” Sarah sang before doing a little dance, then running quickly leap
ing
onto the bed, bounc
ing
a couple of times before landing, cackling with laughter.

A soft chuckle escaped from Shawn as he watched Sarah, his heart doing a little leap when she winked at him. He turned sharply
watching
Siobhan jump a little when the phone started ringing. She rushed to answer it. Saying a few words, she hung up turning around to see three pairs of eyes staring at her.

“It was the manager, he wanted to make sure my accommodations were good” Siobhan said rolling her eyes. She went back to sit next to Jason
noticing
that Shawn had joined Sarah on her bed.

“Hey um that’s my bed you know” Siobhan called over her shoulder

“Yah love I know, but Shawn and I were talking, we think we all should just stay in here tonight” Sarah added quickly as Siobhan turned to glare at her “Apparently you two shouldn’t be getting all hot and heavy as you shatter windows with the monkey love!”

Jason looked at Siobhan shaking his head
wincing a little as he
stood up pulling her up with him “Looks like we’ve been out voted”

Walking into the bedroom, Sarah and Shawn scooted over as Jason and Siobhan climbed in next to them. Turning on the TV in the room, they picked a movie off the guide settling into the soft bed.

The movie had long ended,
with
everyone had fallen asleep
before the middle of the movie
. The soft glow of the TV lit the room in an eerie glow as they slept. Siobhan was sandwiched between Jason and Sarah, with Shawn on the other side of Sarah. Her head lying in the crook of Jason’s arm
with
Sarah’s back pressing lightly against her.

The window in the sitting area opened letting Ash into the room. Walking quietly into the room, he
stood silently
look
ing
over the group in the bed
, a slight
frown
on his lips.
Walking closer to the bed, he could see that Siobhan was wrapped in Jason’s arms. She was also surrounded by Sarah as Shawn and Jason took up the outside of the bed. She was encircled in a protective group, sleeping soundly; they didn’t feel the dip in the bed as he quietly sat on the edge running his finger down Siobhan’s leg.

“Remember me” Ash whispered roughly to Siobhan before rising off the bed. Snapping his fingers Ash disappeared leaving the window in the sitting room wide open to the crisp night air.

Shivering Siobhan leaned closer into Jason, sighing softly as his warmth folded around her. Grumbling, Sarah sat up
pulling
the blanket currently pooling at the bottom of the bed around the group. She glanced briefly at her friends who were snuggled together. Smiling, she la
id
back down snuggl
ing
into the Shawn’s embrace.

The curtains in the sitting area ruffled as the evening breeze entered the room. The air shimmered for a minute as Simon stood over the group. Lips spread in a wicked smile as he took in the group sleeping before him.

This was going to be easier then he thought, laughing softly he vanished into the evening breeze departing out into the night.
Hunger clawing at him, he knew he needed to find nourishment soon
.
Searching the streets, spotting a couple drunkenly groping each other, he swooped in violet eyes gleaming.

Marcus stood behind the bar ignoring the laughter from the patrons pouring the dark wine into his glass; he didn’t bother to look up when the shadow crossed
in front of
him.

“Aye, how did tonight’s events work for you?” Marcus asked as Ash approached the bar

“She’s bloody surrounded by them, I couldn’t get close to her, I tried to bring a dream on, but she wasn’t open enough for it take” Ash sat heavily into the chair in front of Marcus.

Marcus grabbed another glass filling it with the dark wine before sliding it over. Lifting his eyes, he met a fiery green gaze staring back. A wicked grin escaped Marcus as he brought the glass to his lips.

“Angry are you?”

“Go to hell, Marcus”

“Ah come on Ash, you knew it was a matter of time before you let your temper best you?”

“I didn’t let my temper best me; the fool Jason is alive isn’t he?” Ash retorted before taking a large gulp of the wine. Closing his eyes, he felt the heat rush through him, calming some of his anger. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair.

“I told you not to go in so strong with her; the other night should have given you an inkling of what I meant!” Marcus calmly assessed Ash’s mood, sighing heavily before taking a sip of his wine.

“What, that she felt the wards on the door, or that she took the wine without it killing her?” Ash asked as he sat up, his stony glare shooting daggers at Marcus

“All of the above, brother!” Marcus boomed as he slammed his glass on the bar top. “You know she has felt all of us push her, she commented on it! She is wary, I suggested you back off for one night, yet you kept pushing.

“I didn’t push any harder than the other times dammit” Frustration lanc
ing
through Ash’s voice

“Yes, you bloody well did!” Marcus poured more wine into his glass, giving his senses time to adjust

“You rushed to her the other night in the club…Simon was so close to bringing her memories to the surface.” He took another drink of the wine, setting the glass down gentler this time “You had to stop that! You had to come in and close her off, then whisk her away”

“She wasn’t ready for that, Marcus, you even said as much in the park!” Ash finished his wine standing up abruptly. He could feel the wines effect, the chaos pulsing in his veins
madly
; he felt it longing for pain. It wanted to hurt someone, anyone, just to feel the release.

“Come on, you gave her the journal right?” Marcus asked

“Yes, but she couldn’t read it” Ash screamed “Why the hell couldn’t she read it!”

The front door flew open as Simon blasted in with two girls hanging on his arms giggling
interrupting the conversation
.

“Brother’s I brought us gifts”! He bellowed loudly as he turned blowing softly into each girls laughing face.

Seeing Ash standing at the bar, Simon winked at Marcus before turning back to Ash.

“The prodigy has returned alone. I take it dear Siobhan has rebutted you yet again. I wonder how long we will wait this time for the new one to come around”

Growling low, Ash flicked out his hand
as
hoarfrost rushed Simon, only to stop a few inches from him. The hoarfrost began pressing against the wall that currently h
olding
it away from Simon, searching for a crack to slip through. Ash roared in frustration whipping around growling at Marcus, his eyes glowing bright green. Marcus calmly walked around the bar placing his hand onto Ash’s shoulders.

“Now, we know you are not going to harm Simon, he just loves to get you into a fit” Marcus slowly pulled Ash back as the girls leaned closer into Simon. They were staring at Ash in fear; Marcus could feel that fear washing over him. The little tether of hold he had on his own temper beg
in
n
ing
to slip.

Marcus whipped his head around glaring at Simon. The laughter died on Simon’s lips as he took in the kaleidoscope swirling in Marcus eyes.

“Come on ladies, let’s go somewhere for a little privacy, it appears it
will
just
be
us tonight” Simon smiled
blowing
softly into the girls faces before walking back outside.

Simon’s laughter faded from Ash’s ears as he glared at Marcus.

“Why did you stop me?”

“You are a fool for going after Simon; he is only bringing the chaos to the front.” Marcus dropped his hand from Ash’s shoulder. Turning he made his way back behind the bar, picked up his glass of wine
drinking
deeply.

“Tell me brother, where exactly is our dear Moira and her brothers this fine evening?” Marcus didn’t bother to watch the emotions race across Ash’s face. He already knew what thoughts were running through Ash’s mind as he vanished into the night.

“Now the true chase begins” Marcus laughter rumbled through the room silencing the patrons inside.

Siobhan woke up to an empty bed; she sat up looking around the room. This wasn’t her room, whose room was she in, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She slowly got her bearings as last night’s events came back to her. She sat there for a few minutes listening to the muffled voices coming from the sitting room. She knew they were talking about her, but couldn’t understand why they hadn’t woken her up.

Getting up she
quie
t
ly walked
into the bathroom bush
ing
her teeth
before
pull
ing
her hair up into a bun.
Walking
out to the sitting room she was greeted by Jason, Shawn and Sarah sitting on the couches with a room service table in front of them. Plates were arranged all over the table along with
empty
coffee cups
,
a
lone
cup with a tea bag hanging on the saucer
letting Siobhan know Shawn preferred tea
. Walking over she picked up the cup and looked at Shawn, who grinned reaching for it.

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she added a little milk before sitting down next to Jason. He leaned over kissing her softly before running his fingers down her cheek to her chin. Taking a couple of drinks of her coffee she felt her nerves calm.

“So, since no one wants to speak first, I’ll just be the one to say last night was just beyond freaky” Sarah said as she leaned over
squeezing
Siobhan’s knee.

“Aye, I would agree with you” Shawn said shaking his head “I called work and told them I was going to be out for a while”

“Why did you do that?” Siobhan asked

“Well for starters, did anyone open the window last night?” Shawn asked

“No” answered Jason

“Well it was open this morning when Sarah and I rose” Shawn said looking at Sarah smiling as blush rose on her cheeks “Something isn’t right, first the wind, then the window in your old room last night and then this one opened” Hesitating a minute, he took a drink of his tea “There is something going on, and it has to do with either you or Jason” he looked pointedly at Siobhan who dropped her gaze, picking at invisible lint on her
jean
s.

“Since Siobhan has more Irish in her blood, I would say it’s directed at her” Shawn finished on a sigh
sipping
more of his tea

“Look, Shawn, we don’t know you and we just got here, so how could this be Siobhan’s fault?” Jason asked hotly

“Ok Boyo, tell me who else it could be as I’ve been in Dublin most of my life and never had anything like that happen to me before last night?” Shawn said his lilting voice quietly commanding

Clearing
her throat
Siobhan
looked at everyone in the room, reaching inside for a little strength, she straightened up her shoulders “Well, you guys remember when we went into that little store yesterday afternoon?” She asked quietly dropping her gaze

“Yah” Jason answered